Keep Me
by Cobrilee
Summary: Derek tries to surprise Stiles on Christmas Eve. Stiles doesn't do surprises well, and is naturally suspicious. Things don't go as planned. Part 10 of A Very Sterek Christmas.


**A/N: I'm so sorry for being late, you guys, but life got away from me last night and today and I didn't get this written in advance like the other ficlets have been. I didn't have time to do any editing, so my apologies for any mistakes that I missed.**

The fire popped and crackled, the flames flickering brightly and casting light across the deepening shadows. Stiles was absorbed in the way the orange glow danced across the room, lighting his and Derek's skin before quickly retreating. He snuggled back into Derek's arms and sighed, breaking the silence in the room, and Derek shifted to be able to look down at him.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Stiles fell silent after the single word, gathering his thoughts for once instead of letting them fall from his lips in a torrential stream-of-consciousness. "I'm just thinking about how incredible it is to be here right now. You, me, sitting in front of our own fire in our own house."

"Which I still don't understand," Derek replied with a snort. "We live in Beacon Hills. It's still in the fifties outside, it's not like it's really fire weather."

Stiles made a face, even though Derek couldn't see it. "It's the principle of the thing. We finally have our own house and it's Christmas Eve. It's practically a requirement for us to build a roaring fire to snuggle in front of."

Derek scoffed. "Stiles, you pushed a button and the flames came on. It's not like you struggled to chop the wood, load the fireplace, and then fight with the matches to get the thing lit."

"You're determined to take the magic out of this, aren't you?" Stiles grumbled, elbowing his boyfriend lightly in the ribs, and Derek chuckled.

"You bring the magic to everything," he teased affectionately. "I have to balance you. I'm a sourwolf, remember?"

Stiles shifted in Derek's embrace so he could look up at him. "You like to pretend you are, but you realize I know you're just a giant mushball inside, right?"

"Take that back," Derek demanded, but his tone was playful and Stiles rolled his eyes.

"How in the world did you ever convince me you were this fearsome creature who would rip out my spine if I even blinked wrong at you?" he mused, shaking his head in disbelief.

Derek shrugged. "You didn't exactly meet me at the best time in my life," he pointed out wryly. "I might be more open with the right person, but I still have anger issues."

"I'm pretty sure I still have brain trauma from all the times you bashed my head into something," Stiles conceded. He laced his fingers with Derek's and held their hands over his heart. "At least now it's into the headboard instead of my steering wheel."

Derek let out a soft huff of laughter. "Which reminds me, I need to replace that. I found a crack in it that's going to split the next time it gets hit too hard."

"Didn't you just replace it?"

"It's been a couple months, but yeah."

Stiles shook his head. "Maybe we should just give up on the headboard idea. You're too hard on them."

"I wouldn't be so hard on them if you weren't so damn good at stripping away all my self-control," Derek murmured, his voice a low growl, and Stiles felt the desire start to burn low in his belly.

"I'm feeling the need to see if we can make that split happen tonight," he said huskily. "In the next half hour, even."

Derek groaned. "Tempting. But aren't you the one who was determined we spend Christmas Eve in front of the fire?"

"It's been ten minutes. That's plenty." Stiles snuggled back into Derek, purposely shifting his hips so that his ass rubbed against Derek's lap, and he grinned wickedly when he felt another growl rumble through Derek's chest. "Let's go to bed."

"You realize it's only eight, right?" Derek pointed out, and Stiles pivoted in his lap to frown at his boyfriend.

"Why are you stalling?" he asked suspiciously. "On any other night you'd have had us upstairs by now."

Derek shrugged unconvincingly. "Maybe I just enjoy being here with you, in our house, in front of our fire. Sex can wait."

"You _never_ turn down sex. Do I disgust you now? Wait, you're not breaking up with me, are you?" His tone was joking, but even still, he could feel Derek tense behind him. Had Stiles been able to see the surprise on his face he might have realized he'd startled his boyfriend, but that was the extent of it. As it was, Derek's lack of an immediately-reassuring response had him panicking. _Shit, what if he is? Has he been trying to figure out a way to tell me and I just stumbled upon the truth? Is he fucking breaking up with me on Christmas Eve?_

Before he could talk himself into breathing, thinking rationally, and _not_ freaking out, Stiles was jumping off of Derek's lap, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring. "You are, aren't you? You're fucking breaking up with me on Christmas Eve!"

Derek's jaw fell open, and "stunned" wasn't a strong enough word for the look on his handsome face. "What in the hell are you talking about?" he sputtered. "Breaking up with you? We just bought a goddamn house together! Why would I break up with you?"

"Because my boyfriend, of well over a year might I add, has _never_ said 'sex can wait' unless our lives were _literally_ in danger of ending," Stiles retorted. "If you don't want sex, the only plausible explanation is that the idea of it turns your stomach, which means I'm about to be out on my ass!"

Before Derek could even respond, the front door burst open and in flooded pretty much every person in their pack. Lydia, Scott, his father, Kira, Malia, Melissa, Chris, Liam, Isaac, Mason, Hayden, Danny, Ethan, and even Parris all trooped inside, chattering noisily amongst each other, and the house went from still and quiet to raucous in an instant. Stiles paled and he winced, glancing over at Derek apologetically. Derek was mimicking Stiles' earlier position, a glower spreading across his face while his arms were crossed tightly over his chest.

"Or maybe I knew we were about to have a house full of people any minute and I didn't think they'd want to walk in on us with our pants off and your face in my lap," he shot back sarcastically. "I can't fucking believe you, Stiles!"

Their guests stopped, looking from an angry Derek to a mortified Stiles, until Lydia piped up with, "Did we get here at a bad time?"

"No," Derek snorted, "you got here at a fucking perfect time. Stiles was just accusing me of breaking up with him instead of trying to give him a nice Christmas Eve with all his family and friends."

The shock was apparent on everyone's faces. "Stiles, are you crazy?" Scott gaped. "I've never seen Derek as happy as he is with you, why would he want to break up with you?"

Stiles opened his mouth to answer but realized before the first syllable left his mouth that there was nothing he could say to defend himself. Even he realized now his reaction had been over the top and unnecessary, but… Derek hadn't wanted _sex_. That had never happened in their year-plus relationship, _ever_. What was he _supposed_ to have thought?

"I'm an idiot," he offered instead meekly. "I just didn't think…"

"Right," Derek snapped, "you didn't think. Except apparently you _do_ think I'm a sex-obsessed douchebag who's incapable of turning down your dick!"

The entire room fell silent, and Derek stared at Stiles, refusing to look at anyone else as the realization of what he'd just said bloomed on his face.

"Oh. My. God." The soft exclamation came from Mason and only served to heighten the tension.

Stiles couldn't help it; the look of abject horror on Derek's face was priceless. He started laughing so hard he couldn't stop, until tears were streaming down his face. He risked a glance at his father, who looked as if he was wishing he could be anywhere but there, or at the very least that he had _not_ heard Derek's proclamation. Melissa looked sympathetic and Chris was rolling his eyes, and the rest of his friends were fighting to not burst into the same laughter that had Stiles' stomach aching.

When he glanced up at his boyfriend, he was relieved to see his lips were twitching as if he was attempting to hold back a smile. "I think, for the sake of all of our evenings, we should pretend I didn't just say that," he suggested smoothly, and heads all around the room began bobbing simultaneously. "Come in, everyone, there are drinks and food in the fridge. Help yourselves."

As the tension in the room eased and everyone began chattering again as they moved around, getting food and drinks and taking off their jackets to hang up, Derek stepped in close to Stiles. "I don't even want to know what caused that freakout, but please, do me a favor and remember who I am," he murmured. "I would never do that to you."

"I know," Stiles muttered back. "But, you didn't want sex. I thought that meant you didn't want _me_."

Derek moved in front of Stiles, putting his hands on the younger man's shoulders and locking their gazes. "I love you, Stiles," he said softly. "I don't see that ever changing, but if it does, I'll be honest with you about it. Please trust me."

Stiles breathed sharply in relief, sliding his arms around Derek's waist and dropping his head to the wolf's chest. Derek's arms circled him and held him closely, and Stiles finally felt his heartbeat settle into a steady rhythm again. Funny; the only time it was ever out of sync was when he and Derek were. "I do," he whispered. "I just let my insecurities get the best of me for a minute. I'm sorry."

Sighing, Derek tightened his embrace. "You have no reason to be insecure around me," he promised. Pulling back, he gave Stiles an affectionate smile. "If we managed to get together after pretty much hating each other for as long as we did, I think we can survive anything."

"I never hated you," Stiles objected. "I feared you, and you intimidated the hell out of me, but I didn't hate you."

"You wanted to kill me."

"Yeah, that wasn't one of my finest moments."

Derek laughed. "I'll forgive you. Just like I am now. Because I _know_ you, Stiles, just like you know me. And I love what I know. You're stuck with me."

"I _told_ you you're a giant mushball," Stiles countered, grinning.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Isaac called. "Do you have any more Mountain Dew?"

Stiles and Derek broke apart, but before Derek could head into the garage to get the extra soda they stored in the second fridge, Stiles leaned up to press a soft, lingering kiss to his boyfriend's lips. "I love you, and I know I don't deserve you, but I'm going to keep you anyway."

"You _don't_ deserve me," Derek agreed, his eyes laughing. "But I'll _let_ you keep me anyway."

As Derek headed for the garage Stiles joined Scott and Kira, who were studying the photographs he'd hung in a collage on the wall by the staircase that led upstairs. Derek had made fun of him, teasing him for spending too much time on Pinterest, but in the end even he'd had to admit the effect was beautiful. He fell into an easy conversation with his friends, answering questions about the pictures he'd chosen, and he was reminded of how grateful he was to have such an amazing man in his life. Derek had known Stiles had wanted a pack Christmas, and he'd made it happen.

Yes, he would definitely be keeping that man forever.


End file.
